Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study Introduction The Virgin Group was found in the year 1970 by a business man by the name Sir Richard Branson and incorporated in 1989, with its headquarters located in London, United Kingdom.

The Virgin Group handles different varieties of products and services distributed all in various parts of the world. You can find leisure, media, transport, finance, music, health, TV, and radio services among many others in this outstanding company. The group also engages in other areas such as gym facilities, technical support and home IT, online casinos, and racing teams, just to mention a few. This group has employed approximately 50,000 employees across different nations and experiences sales of about $20 billion annually. Though Virgin Group Limited has been successful over the years, there are a number of challenges that have made this company to lose huge amounts of money.

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For example when they decided to launch their MP3 player, also known as “the Virgin Pulse”, they lost about $20 million after they were beaten by the famous Apple iPod. There is also the other issue of the Virgin Cola. This was also not successful despite the fact that this is the most favorable cola drink in Bangladesh. The main focus of this essay is to establish the leadership style used by the founder and chairman of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson that has enabled him to be successful in his investments. We shall as well discuss how Branson has been able to become an effective global team leader, and how his leadership qualities can be incorporated in our day-to-day business and lifestyle.

Branson’s Leadership Style Branson leadership personality is categorized as being courageous. This means that he takes risks as well as initiatives to accomplish his dreams. He has the passion to support his workers through many ways. An example of his courageous moves was when he decided to save Virgin Atlantic’s financial situation by selling out Virgin Records. Another example of Branson’s risky move was when he decided to venture into space tourism. These examples clearly prove that Branson is a person who engages in risk management (Walenius, 2011).

Before Branson engages in any business field, he ensures that he understands the business pretty well as well as the competition that the company might face.

Another leadership skill that Branson poses is creativity. His idea of ordering food in his airline using a touch-screen concept is a creative move. Branson’s venture into space tourism also explains how insightful he is to certain situations. One of the advantages of being insightful is that the process of making decisions is done faster. As Branson suggests, (Walenius, 2011) you can only be a good leader if you like people genuinely. This is also another important aspect in defining excellent leadership style. Sir Richard Branson is also characterized by another

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characteristic which is very simple. Branson is a down-to-earth person who can relate with anyone. His smile is a way of ensuring that things are done in an easy way and also showing a friendly face. Branson also advices people to have fun when working in order to pave way for smooth running of business. Success does not come on a silver platter; you have to work towards it. Branson has been successful because he believes in his ideas as well as those of his employees and colleagues (Walenius, 2011).

Branson: A More Effective Leader Branson’s effective leadership style is observing time management. His days are divided equally in ensuring that his business is promoted, supporting new projects as well as trouble shooting any areas that are not perfect. Branson is a perfectionist when it comes to handling public relations activities. He is also not afraid of being a leader in ensuring that the PR momentum is brought to its maximum. He also has a developed skill of ensuring that work is delegated effectively to his colleagues. Much of his time is spent helping his management team to set up business plans that will take his companies to prosperity. After making his contribution, he steps back and leaves the rest to the management to ensure that everything is in control (Walenius, 2011). When it comes to hiring, Branson is very selective; he hires people with integrity, efficient, hardworking and those who are ready to advance to other levels. In case a worker does not perform well in a given task, he ensures that the workers are assigned other responsibilities where they can work effectively according to their capabilities. Branson has a mind that if you look for the best, you will absolutely get the best. He does not rely much on firing because he sees it as an option that is not very necessary. In order to manage people effectively, it is important to ensure that they are given a chance to manage themselves (Crush,

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2010). When people are given a chance to manage their tasks and responsibilities, consistency in the company is achieved.

Branson believes that people’s qualifications are just but an additional attribute to one’s nature. He does not rely much on workers’ qualifications but rather their attitude towards work.

Branson believes that good leaders are attentive to employees as well as customers. If the leaders are able to seek feedback from employees, then the company can be able to make positive innovations that will impress and attract customers (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2010). He goes further and suggests that great leaders should not be concerned with the office size, but rather the feelings and thoughts of the employees. Branson doe not recognize employees as resources in the business; he believes that they are the business. This is one thing that motivates employees because they have the feeling that they own the business. This is an effective strategy because no one will ever want his or her business to fail; everyone wants to deliver the best services and make profits (Abdul, 2003).

Branson: A global Team Leader From Sir Richard Branson’s story, there are many traits that make him to be a global leader. First and foremost, he is dynamic in meeting the standards of the global economy.

Branson has dedicated himself to developing a corporate culture that can fit well to any change.

He believes that global leaders must be charismatic and have motivational skills (The next Women: Business Magazine, 2012). Branson is a sensitive leader who has empathy towards any change that comes as a result of continual growth. He has a clear vision and he is able to articulate his own perspective to his colleague as well as his employees. He is considered to be a global leader in the sense that his companies employees a greater percentage of workers all over the world. His companies are distributed in over 30 countries with branded revenues of about

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$21 billion (Virgin Group website, 2012). Global leaders like Sir Richard Branson recognize the importance of contributing towards the values and social welfare of the society. Branson decided to contribute his Virgin Rail profits towards the global warming crisis (Crush, 2010). Together with this, Branson’s foundation “Virgin Unite” works towards mobilizing talent across the Virgin Group. The main aim of this foundation is to deal with tough situations in the society in an entrepreneurial way. Branson also ensures that his businesses have the potential of being recognized globally. His urge to challenge Coca Cola with his Virgin Cola is a move that explains how Branson has a global attitude towards prosperity (Vignali, 2001).

Incorporation of Branson’s Leader Qualities In order to incorporate the leadership qualities that Sir Richard Branson has, leaders must be able to add value to employees. Leaders must be inspiring and must be able to know each problem facing a worker. Leaders must work towards motivating their followers through moral moves that flow towards the right direction. There are a number of leadership traits that leaders must posses in order to be close to Branson. Courage is the first quality because it guarantees all the other moves that will follow. Branson has displayed exceptional courage with his risk taking moves. Leaders must have the courage to face the truth and do the right thing. Self control is also of great importance when it comes to leadership qualities. The other qualities include good sense of judgment, skillful planning, understanding, responsible, and humble, just to mention a few.

Leaders must be able to execute strategies into a positive turn. In order to be successful, leaders should have structured obligations that will enable them to accomplish their goals. However, execution will not be possible if there is no monitoring. Monitoring is important because it enables leaders to learn and advance from the mistakes made. Confidence is also another quality that is important if leaders are to incorporate the leadership style of Branson. In this case

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confidence is not towards an individual but rather with the people one is leading. Branson had many obstacles on his way to success; but through confidence, determination and persistence, he made it to the top. The fact that Virgin Cola failed did not break Branson’s heart, instead he persevered the challenge and took it as a learning point.

Conclusion This essay has provided a full outline of the important qualities that leaders should have in order to achieve success. With great assistance from the qualities of Sir Richard Branson, a number of qualities have been established. They include team builder, determination, leader execution, confidence, persistence, great communication skills, and being a role model, among others. With all these qualities in place, one would be able to work positively towards becoming a successful leader. Insight is also another quality that enables leaders to make decisions fast; this is what Branson uses when implementing new ideas. Branson has also taught us that we as leaders must develop the society in whatever way. His noble move of pledging $3 billion towards global warming reduction is an act that benefits the community as well as the whole world positively. A close look at the corporate foundation of Virgin Group is to add value as well as promote the Virgin brand globally.

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Abdul, R. (2003). Virgin corporate strategy: Case study. Retrieved May 20, 2012 from http://www.robabdul.com/the-virgin-group-case-study.asp Crush, P. (2010). Exclusive: Sir Richard Branson talks to HR magazine about leadership. Snow Hill: MA Business & Leisure Limited.

The Next Women: Business Magazine, (2012). What makes Richard Branson a global leader?

Retrieved May 20, 2012 from http://thenextwomen.com/2012/04/24/what-makes-richardbranson-global-leader The Sydney Morning Herald, (2010). Richard Branson's leadership tips. Retrieved May 20, 2012 from http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/blogs/work-in-progress/richardbransons-leadership-tips-20100819-12rcr.html Vignali, C. (2001) "Virgin Cola". British Food Journal, 103(2), 131 - 145 Virgin Group website, (2012). ‘Virgin’. Retrieved May 20, 2012 from http://www.virgin.com/about-us Walenius, M. (2011). The leadership style of Sir Richard Branson. Retrieved May 20, 2012 from http://michael.walenius.com/?p=141